The Final Dive: The Life And Death Of 'Buster' Crabb [Hardcover]

Don Hale (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2008

Commander Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabb was Ian Fleming’s inspiration for James Bond. A British naval frogman, Crabb disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1957 following a secret dive beneath a Russian warship which brought Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulganin to Britain. Fifty years after the event, award-winning investigative journalist Don Hale uncovers who sanctioned Crabb’s final dive in a case which claimed the jobs of Admiralty top brass and Intelligence people and contributed to the downfall of Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Commander Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabb was Ian Fleming’s inspiration for James Bond. A British naval frogman, Crabb disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1957 following a secret dive beneath a Russian warship which brought Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulganin to Britain. Fifty years after the event, award-winning investigative journalist Don Hale uncovers who sanctioned Crabb’s final dive in a case which claimed the jobs of Admiralty top brass and Intelligence people and contributed to the downfall of Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

About the Author

Don Hale has collected regional, national and international awards for investigative journalism. His book on the so-called ‘Bakewell Tart’ case, Town Without Pity, was short listed for the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger award for non-fiction and was made into a successful TV drama. He lives in North Wales.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing/The History press (March 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750945745
• ISBN-13: 978-0750945745
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,591,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Don Hale is an award winning investigative journalist and author. Three times he has taken the Journalist of the Year title, and he was awarded an OBE in 2002 for outstanding campaign journalism. He has written about seven other true crime, crime novels, and major books, and three have become best sellers, with two used for films - including a BBC two-part TV drama for Town Without Pity - which attracted over 9m audience and starred Stephen Tompkinson and Caroline Katz amongst others. His other book Mallard - How the Blue Streak Broke the world record - was used for a TV documentary on the Discovery Channel in June 2011 for National Geographic. And his other major works, The Final Dive, about the James Bond inspiration - Buster Crabb - became another roaring success.
Don was the real life Derbyshire journalist who campaigned tirelessly for the release of a man wrongly jailed for murder yet spent 27 year plus behind bars. Town Without Pity documented his campaign and revealed vital evidence that helped to clear Stephen Downing, and considers who was potentially responsible for the brutal 1973 murder of Wendy Sewell in a Bakewell cemetery. It became known by the media as the 'Bakewell Tart, murder. The book was later used as the basis for this dramatic two-part TV edition which was re-named 'In Denial of Murder,' which was Don's preferred title for the book. The film was later distributed around the world by BBC World Service. Since this case, Do has helped investigate and celebrate the releases of three other high profile prisoners - jailed for murders or serious crimes that they did not commit - including that of Barry George - now cleared of the killing of TV star Jill Dando.
Town Without Pity and his first ever crime thriller - THE WRONG BODY - are now available on Amazon Kindle to download. This is the very first time that Town Without Pity has been made available since its initial launch in 2002 and makes for a true crime genuine roller-coaster ride from start to finish.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars THE FINAL DIVE, September 29, 2009

By 

Joseph R. Calamia (El Paso, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Final Dive (Paperback)

"The Final Dive: The Life and Death of "Buster" Crabb" by Don Hale is an updated in-depth investigation into the mysterious death of England's "diver extraordinaire"...Cdr. Lionel "Buster' Crabb.

Cdr. Crabb made his final dive on April 19, 1956 under several Soviet War ships that were visiting England at the time along with then...President Nikita Khrushchev on a "good-will tour." Cdr. Crabb was trying to get additional intelligence on the bottom of the ships specifically, the Soviet cruiser, Ordzhonikidze.

Cdr. Crabb was working in conjunction with MI-6, the CIA, and British Naval authorities including, Lord Mountbatten (in charge of the Admiralty). Cdr. Crabb takes his newly developed underwater camera and then initiates his dive. It is then that something goes terribly wrong, and England's most famous "frogman" never returns. Some 14 months later a headless and handless body in a Navy diving suit is located bobbing on the waves by two fishermen (who "ironically" had known Cdr. Crabb). In addition, claims of one or two additional floating corpses also surface hinting perhaps...just perhaps...that Cdr. Crabb was not the only "fish in the barrel."

The author also reflects that the British government is keeping most of their records on this subject matter closed to the public until 2057! That alone tells the reader and anyone else that there is still "more to the story."

It seems that Cdr.Crabb's work brought him into contact with such family friends as, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, Kim Philby, and the rest of the Cambridge five group. With friends like that..."who needs enemies?" None the less, the author gives a good ending premise on a great many possible scenarios that are if, not exactly correct, then at least very close to the truth of the matter. Personally, I wonder now if, Lord Mountbatten (killed by IRA bombing in 1979), wasn't himself someway "more affiliated" with the Anthony Blunt group than most would want to admit, and perhaps... used poor Cdr. Crabb (and possibly others), to enhance that affiliation.

Like most books of this nature they leave the reader going away with more questions than answers, but at least leaves... one with something of real substance to think about.

The writing format itself is at times rather sterile and yes...even boring (at least in my opinion). None the less, this is a topic that has clouded the waters for a great many years, and I salute Mr. Hale's research and additional light "under the hull" of this disastrous intelligence coup.